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Introduction PDF Accessibility Each PDF File is Different Two Workflows for Creating Accessible PDF Files Characteristics of Accessible PDF files
Searchable text Fonts that allow characters to be extracted to text Interactive form fields Other Interactive Features: Buttons, hyperlinks, and navigational aids Document language Security that will not interfere with assistive technology Document structure tags and proper read order Alternative text descriptions
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Adobe Acrobat and Adobe Reader Accessibility Features Features for Accessible Reading of PDFs Features for Creating Accessible PDFs The Acrobat 9 Pro Accessibility Guide Series PDF Accessibility Overview (this document) Creating Accessible PDF from Microsoft Word Acrobat 9 Pro PDF Accessibility Repair Workflow Using the Accessibility Checker in Acrobat 9 Pro Creating Accessible PDF Forms with Acrobat 9 Pro Acrobat 9 Pro Complete Best Practices for Accessibility
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Introduction
PDF Accessibility
A document or application is accessible if it can be used by people with disabilitiessuch as mobility impairments, blindness, and low visionand not just by people who can see well and use a mouse. Accessibility features in Adobe Acrobat, Adobe Reader, and Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF) make it easier for people with disabilities to use PDF documents and forms, with or without the aid of assistive software and devices such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, and braille printers. Making PDFs accessible tends to benefit all users. For example, the underlying document structure that makes it possible for a screen reader to properly read a PDF out loud also makes it possible for a mobile device to correctly reflow and display the document on a small screen. Similarly, the preset tab order of an accessible PDF form helps all usersnot just users with mobility impairmentsfill the form more easily.
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Introduction
reliably, independently of the environment in which they were created. PDF relies on the same imaging model as the PostScript page description language to describe text and graphics in a device-independent and resolution-independent manner. To improve performance for interactive viewing, PDF defines a more structured format than that used by most PostScript language programs. PDF also includes objects, such as annotations and hypertext links, that are not part of the page itself but are useful for interactive viewing and document interchange. Accessible PDFs have the following characteristics: Searchable text A document that consists of scanned images of text is inherently inaccessible because the content of the document is a graphic representing the letters on the page, not searchable text. Assistive software cannot read or extract the words in a graphic representation, users cannot select or edit the text, and you cannot manipulate the PDF for accessibility. You must convert the scanned images of text to searchable text using optical character recognition (OCR) before you can use other accessibility features with the document. Fonts that allow characters to be extracted to text The fonts in an accessible PDF must contain enough information for Acrobat to correctly extract all of the characters to text for purposes other than displaying text on the screen. Acrobat extracts characters to Unicode text when you read a PDF with a screen reader or the Read Out Loud tool, or when you save as text for a braille printer. This extraction fails if Acrobat cannot determine how to map the font to Unicode characters. Interactive form fields Some PDFs contain forms that a person is to fill out using a computer. To be accessible, form fields must be interactivemeaning that a user must be able to enter values into the form fields. Interactive PDF forms also have a defined tab order allowing users of assistive technology to use the tab key in order to progress from one form field or interactive control in a logical manner. Refer to the document Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro Accessibility Guide: Creating Accessible Forms for complete details. Other Interactive Features: Buttons, hyperlinks, and navigational aids Navigational aids in a PDFsuch as links, bookmarks, headings, a table of contents, and a preset tab order for form fieldsassist all users in using the document without having to read through the entire document, word by word. Bookmarks are especially useful and can be created from document headings. Many of these aids can be accessed using the keyboard without relying on the mouse. Document language Specifying the document language in a PDF enables some screen readers to switch to the appropriate language. Security that will not interfere with assistive technology Some authors of PDFs restrict users from printing, copying, extracting, adding comments to, or editing text. The text of an accessible PDF must be available to a screen reader. You can use Acrobat to ensure that security settings dont interfere with a screen readers ability to convert the on-screen text to speech. Document structure tags and proper read order To read a documents text and present it in a way that makes sense to the user, a screen reader or other textto-speech tool requires that the document be structured. Document structure tags in a PDF define the reading order and identify headings, paragraphs, sections, tables, and other page elements. Alternative text descriptions Document features such as images and interactive form fields cant be read by a screen reader unless they have associated alternative text. Though web links are read by screen readers, you can provide more
Introduction
meaningful descriptions as alternative text. Alternative text and tool tips can aid many users, including those with learning disabilities.
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Though Acrobat Standard provides some functionality for making existing PDFs accessible, you must use Acrobat Pro or Acrobat Pro Extended to perform certain taskssuch as editing reading order or editing document structure tagsthat may be necessary to make some PDF documents and forms accessible (See Table 1: Features for Creating Accessible PDF Files by Product on page3).
Acrobat 9 Standard
Acrobat 9 Pro
* Windows Only
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Introduction Table 1: Features for Creating Accessible PDF Files by Product (Continued) Reader 9
Capture web pages as rich, dynamic PDF files for review and archiving Scan paper documents to PDF and automatically recognize text with optical character recognition (OCR) Save PDF files as Microsoft Word documents, retaining the layout, fonts, formatting, and tables, to facilitate reuse of content Easily create fillable PDF forms from paper or existing files using the Form Wizard Enable users of Adobe Reader (version 8 or later) to fill in and save PDF forms locally Create dynamic XML forms with Adobe LiveCycle Designer ES (included)* Create and validate accessible PDF documents * Windows Only
Acrobat 9 Standard
Acrobat 9 Pro
Introduction
popular word processing application. Some of the techniques apply to the Microsoft Office productivity suite as well, such as PowerPoint presentation graphics program.
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Introduction